Looks pretty good to me if Donald can handle CF as reports indicate he can. I really like to see Acta not hesitate to PH later in the game too. Donald, Sloth, Cunningham even Marson are nice options off the bench against Loogies.

"5. Against lefties, the Indians (in theory) would only have three left-handed hitters in the lineup -- Shin-Soo Choo, Jason Kipnis and Hannahan. None have been destroyed by lefty pitching. Do the Indians want to sink at least $5 million into someone such as Pena? "

The buzz is all over the 'tubes about us and Pena. This org keeps a tight ship so something must be brewing. I still hope they wait for Fielder to land, which means we have to wait for Yu Darvish. He's the one holding everything up. When is that deal deadline?

Btw - 7 out of the 20 starters we face in the central are LH'ed. Get used to seeing Donald in CF I guess.

Edit - and 8/25 in the East and 8/20 in the West. That's 35% of the time we'll see a lefty.

Casey Kotchman just seems like a better fit for the Indians. Yeah, he's got less power, and he's just coming off one good season...but he at least has a chance of hitting above .240, has a much smaller platoon split (so you could at least consider playing him every day), he's younger, and he might even come cheaper.

I know it seems really easy to just go Santana/Pena against righties and Marson/Santana against lefties, but Santana is going to need some actual days off.

BTW: Cous's article suggests playing Carlos at DH on the vs. lefties days, but he didn't mention the legitimate issue (or, at least, legitimate to MLB managers) of the catcher getting hurt, forcing the DH to catch, forcing the pitcher to hit. Santana might DH for a game or two, but it's never going to be an actual plan.

pup wrote:Isn't Pena a very good defensive 1B? Why would you DH him against LH? If you are going to have the shitty part of his game in the lineup, you might as well get the benefit of a good defensive 1B.

I think he's fine defensively, but I don't think Kotchman is that bad either.

The switch above wasn't DHing him against LH, it was C-Santana / 1B-Pena vs righties and C-Marson / 1B-Santana against lefties. Pena sits. I'm a Carlos Pena fan, but his splits against lefties are just too brutal to play every day.

He had 120 at bats against lefties last year. He had sixteen (16) hits.

The only ways he plays at this point is against righties, whether it's at first base, DH, or pinch hitting.

Kotchman, Lee, or a trade. And since the Indians seem unwilling to deal from their depth in relief (and I get that), it's Kotchman or Lee. Or take Pena, but accept the fact that it has to mean a Shapiran platoon.

pup wrote:Isn't Pena a very good defensive 1B? Why would you DH him against LH? If you are going to have the shitty part of his game in the lineup, you might as well get the benefit of a good defensive 1B.

I think he's fine defensively, but I don't think Kotchman is that bad either.

The switch above wasn't DHing him against LH, it was C-Santana / 1B-Pena vs righties and C-Marson / 1B-Santana against lefties. Pena sits. I'm a Carlos Pena fan, but his splits against lefties are just too brutal to play every day.

He had 120 at bats against lefties last year. He had sixteen (16) hits.

The only ways he plays at this point is against righties, whether it's at first base, DH, or pinch hitting.

Kotchman, Lee, or a trade. And since the Indians seem unwilling to deal from their depth in relief (and I get that), it's Kotchman or Lee. Or take Pena, but accept the fact that it has to mean a Shapiran platoon.

I was referring to this:

Jumbo wrote:BTW: Cous's article suggests playing Carlos at DH on the vs. lefties days

Jumbo wrote:BTW: Cous's article suggests playing Carlos at DH on the vs. lefties days, but he didn't mention the legitimate issue (or, at least, legitimate to MLB managers) of the catcher getting hurt, forcing the DH to catch, forcing the pitcher to hit. Santana might DH for a game or two, but it's never going to be an actual plan.

Maybe I'm alone, but this "lose the DH" idea shouldn't play that big of a role. If Marson were to get hurt or get pinch-hit for or pinch-run for late in a game, the Indians can play substitute PH in the DH spot (removing pitchers in the process) so pitchers wouldn't have to hit. It is true that if Marson got hurt early in the game, it might result in a pitcher stepping to the plate two or three times before PH/reliever comes into play. To me, keeping Santana away from 1B and keeping him healthy is a reward worth that risk.

Maybe a 3rd catcher would be in order to accommodate this hypothetical, but I don't think it would be a dealbreaker or prevent Santana from being the DH to balance out Hafner in 1/4 of the games.

paulcousineau wrote:Maybe I'm alone, but this "lose the DH" idea shouldn't play that big of a role.

It shouldn't, but MLB managers, broadcasters, and so on like to think it does. Like you say, the "worst case scenario" of 2 or 3 pitcher ABs in one game doesn't outweigh possible benefits in roster construction, keeping Santana healthy, keeping Pronk away from lefties, and so on.

I only pointed it out because your article didn't mention it as the key reason why Even If It's A Good Idea It Wouldn't Happen Anyway.

The other issue, of course, is that if Santana DH's against lefties, somebody still has to play first against them too. So you're right back at square one.

paulcousineau wrote:Maybe I'm alone, but this "lose the DH" idea shouldn't play that big of a role.

It shouldn't, but MLB managers, broadcasters, and so on like to think it does. Like you say, the "worst case scenario" of 2 or 3 pitcher ABs in one game doesn't outweigh possible benefits in roster construction, keeping Santana healthy, keeping Pronk away from lefties, and so on.

I only pointed it out because your article didn't mention it as the key reason why Even If It's A Good Idea It Wouldn't Happen Anyway.

The other issue, of course, is that if Santana DH's against lefties, somebody still has to play first against them too. So you're right back at square one.

We could always resign Jolbert Cabrerra. Pretty sure he was the emergency catcher (as well as emergency 3B, SS, 2B, LF, RF and trainer) for a few years running.

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At risk of sounding like a sabrhole (sorry Pup), the guy does his job. He's just about an .850 OPS guy, good for at least 25 HR, 85 RBI, 85 BB. And he's a good defender, which as we saw last season should not be discounted, as he would be half of most of the the putouts in any game. Especially with the Tribe's staff.

He works counts, and drives the ball. Him and Santana back to back nearly guarantees 15 pitches. Figure they'll come up three times a game, that's 45 pitches, or roughly half of a SPs count (I understand it's an over simplification, but the point remains). And he's not Matt LaPorta, which is the other option if they sit pat.

Bankee's are in on Pena. Or...Pena's agent dropped the Y-bomb to get the Tribe to raise the offer by a couple million.

Regardless, nothing gets done until Yu Darvish signs or not. Then Fielder can sign. Then we can see if we can maybe get a 1b on the trade block, and spend our 10 mil on Cespedes. Or pony up the $ for Pena.

Darvish deadline is Weds.

/10 mil for a platoon player is stupid. And without precedent. No way this guy gets 10 mil unless the Yankees are serious. And if the Yankees pay 10 mil for a platoon player they smoke better weed than me.

peeker643 wrote:I want to see what the word is on Santana when he reports to camp. If his head is right and he's physically good and he's worked on the defensive side then they need to do something still at 1B.

Otherwise, I'd rather play the season w/Santana at 1B and an excellent defensive catcher handling a quality pitching staff in Marson.

ymmv

What?

Are you worried he'll show up 20 lbs overweight? Why would you think that? I can't recall that ever happening........oh wait.

Does this change your perspective? Didn't the Indians have one of those at SS?

Not pimpin', just askin'.

Yeah but Droobs plays everyday and is a switch hitter. We're gonna face Lefty starters 35% of the time this year, so you're only looking at 400 at bats vs. 600. I'd pay him 66% of 10 mil. 6.6 mil sounds about right.

bookelly wrote:Yeah but Droobs plays everyday and is a switch hitter. We're gonna face Lefty starters 35% of the time this year, so you're only looking at 400 at bats vs. 600. I'd pay him 66% of 10 mil. 6.6 mil sounds about right.

If he could hit lefties like he could hit righties, do you really think he would only make 10 million a year? Yeah, the entirety of his offensive value is against RHP, but it's still quite a bit of value.

Dave Cameron at Fangraphs has an interesting little article up on Jesus Montero. He's trying to decide if Montero should be a DH or given his shot behind the plate.

The situation is different, but in reading it I thought a lot of the same things might apply when we are discussion Santana's future at 1B vs C.

If you think Montero can be better than the worst defensive catcher in baseball, it is probably worth taking the risk on trying him behind the plate and evaluating further – the Rangers are certainly happy they did so with Napoli after the Angels gave up on him beind the plate, after all. However, if you believe that Montero’s physical limitations will prevent him from being decent behind the plate, then moving him to DH now might very well be the right decision.

GodHatesClevelandSport wrote:LaPorta had more doubles, triples, homers, and RBI than Kotchman in 200 fewer plate apperances last season.

And significantly worse defense.

I'm all for the guy who is going to help the ground ball pitching staff out the most. If that means he's going to be a slap hitting contact guy, so be it. .300 with a .370 OBP and Gold Glove caliber defense is worth it.

There's a chance we get 40-45 HR from our middle infield, 20 more from RF and DH, and 25 from Santana wherever he plays.

I'm fine with that kind of power production.

Only problem I see is where Kotchman fits in the lineup. His AVG & OBP make him a decent two hitter (assuming 2011 wasn't a fluke season or an outlier) but he won't hit that high. He's not really a run producer, so he shouldn't hit 3rd-6th. Guess he'd hit 7th or 8th.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe